Royal Danish Orchestra

The Royal Danish Orchestra is one of the world's oldest musical ensembles, tracing its lineage back to the middle of the 15th century. More recently, the orchestra has recorded both Danish music and works from other countries. By the 21st century, the orchestra had about 100 musicians; it is especially notable for its string section, which plays instruments from a large collection of instruments from the Italian golden age. The modern Royal Danish Orchestra dates back in an unbroken sequence of ensembles to a corps of trumpeters that was established at the court of Denmark's King Christian I in 1448. Composer Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) was one early conductor; Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) was another. The orchestra's Danish name, Det Kongelige Kapel, means the Royal Kapelle or the Royal Chapel, and the group served as the Danish monarch's court orchestra for centuries. As opera spread across Europe, the orchestra became associated with the Royal Danish Theatre, and it remains the orchestra of the Royal Danish Opera today. The orchestra remained associated with the Danish royal family even after the abolition of monarchical rule in 1849, and even in the 20th century, King Frederik IX sometimes conducted the group. In the late 19th century, under conductor Johan Svendsen (from 1883 to 1908), the orchestra grew and took on an independent concert life apart from the opera, focusing on the European symphonic tradition. The group continues to perform symphonic concerts at the Royal Danish Opera, playing contemporary music on a smaller stage called Takkelloftet. The group has also toured internationally. Among the modern conductors of the Royal Danish Orchestra was Paavo Berglund, who served from 1993 to 1998 and had already begun to record a cycle of Carl Nielsen's symphonies with the group in 1988 for the RCA Red Seal label. More recent conductors have included Michael Schønwandt (2000-2011), Michael Boder (2012-2016), and Alexander Vedernikov (2018-2020); the group's first female conductor, Marie Jacquot, is slated to take up the baton in 2024. The orchestra has recorded for Genuin, Naxos, and Dacapo, among other labels; Dacapo issued a collection of performances conducted by Frederik IX in 2020. In 2022, the orchestra released a live recording of Sibelius' The Tempest, Op. 109, led by conductor Okko Kamu. ~ James Manheim, Rovi